A BACKLASH has started against North Wales' police chief's controversial suggestion to consider legalising some - or all - drugs.

Richard Brunstrom, chief constable of North Wales, is calling for a Royal Commission to review the entire subject and is being backed by his police authority, which includes three magistrates.

But National Assembly Member for Delyn, Alison Halford, has slammed his comments as "intemperate and ill-conceived".

Miss Halford, once Britain's highest ranking female police officer when she was assistant chief constable on Merseyside, says Mr Brunstrom has taken a step too far and that it is "wildly dangerous" to compare the hazards of alcohol and tobacco with those of heroin and cocaine.

Yesterday, the only member of North Wales Police Authority not to support the call for a Royal Commission, Elfyn Williams, said: "This has nothing to do with us - it's a job for MPs. We should not be dabbling in politics."

Mr Williams, a retired detective sergeant who represents Conwy County Council on the authority, said he was speaking out because he had received calls which had wrongly assumed he had backed the call for a Royal Commission.

He insisted he had gone to London as a delegate to the National Crime Squad which had a Home Office grant to fight organised drug-related crime. "So how could I possibly support a call to have the possibility of legalising drugs to be considered?" he asked.

"There are 43 police authorities in England and Wales and two of them have asked for a Royal Commission; we are one and Cleveland is the other. Mr Brunstrom used to be deputy chief constable in Cleveland.

"These are matters which should be decided by politicians at Westminster, not chief constables and police authorities. It simply isn't our remit."

Miss Halford, a former member of the Authority, says that she had advocated the legalisation of cannabis for years, but never other dangerous drugs such as crack cocaine and its derivatives. She warned that it is a dangerous logic to say that the battle against drugs cannot be won and therefore one should throw in the towel. If followed to its logical conclusion, Mr Brunstrom's officers would soon be out of a job.

Miss Halford said that to say alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than heroin and cocaine is wildly irresponsible. Problems with drink and cigarettes occur with abuse.

" Cannabis has medical properties and again, used as a recreational drug, it has its place," she said - stressing she was not, herself, a smoker.

"I've advocated for years that we can go soft on pot but never with crack cocaine and its derivatives." Miss Halford said that a Royal Commission would take years and would be costly.

"Had he really wanted a cool and rational debate, it might have been more sensible for the senior law enforcer to keep his own counsel and not even suggest that all drugs could be legalised, without strong supporting evidence that they are not destructive.

Meanwhile, Clwyd West MP Gareth Thomas, a barrister, has written to the authority and the chief constable about his misgivings.

He said: "Does Mr Brunstrom have any suggestions about how we should go about legalising some drugs when we are part of a UN convention which outlaws them and insists on criminal penalties for those concerned in the supply of hard drugs?

"What does he say should happen to the millions of pounds we are spending on detection, rehabilitation and trying to educate our children about the dangers?

"What sort of signal is all this sending to the community when you have a chief constable luxuriating in ideas, thinking aloud in this way?

"Personally I'm open minded about cannabis, but the reason society makes certain drugs illegal is because, on medical grounds, they are so dangerous."